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Quarterly Newsletter
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Summer 2013
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Who We Are
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Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District is a union municipality committed to helping its 18 member communities work toward Zero Waste.
We are
Zero Waste CentralTM.
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We are Zero Waste Central! |
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You are Invited ...
... to join our Board! If you hail from Tunbridge, or Washington, we invite you to look into filling these vacancies on our Board of Supervisors. Board members must be appointed by the town Select Board. We welcome new District Supervisors Judith Dillon of Plainfield; Ellen Gershun of Walden; and Dan Hale of Hardwick.
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 Zero Waste: Declare Your Independence!
Join us July 3 at the State House lawn as we help Montpelier celebrate Independence Day by declaring a collective indpendence from waste! CVSWMD has teamed up with Montpelier Alive to move Montpelier's annual Independence Day festival toward zero waste. We'll be hosting two Zero Waste Stations near the food vendors, in order to feature composting and recycling. Staff and volunteers will be monitoring the stations to help festival-goers successfully sort waste, and divert resources out of the landfill.
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Corporate Cup!
Almost half CVSWMD staff participated in the Vermont Corporate Cup 5K race in May. This was the first time in many years that CVSWMD represented at this event, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. From left to right: Acting Operations Manager, Carl Witke; School Program Manager, Gwen Lyons; School Zero Waste Coordinator, Amanda Garland; Muncipal Assistant Grant Coordinator Chrissy Bellmyer; General Manager Leesa Stewart; Zero Waste Outreach Coordinator, Cassandra Hemenway.
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 | After a discussion with School Zero Waste Coordinator Amanda Garland about the compost cycle and soil science, Chelsea students shoveled dirt and compost into the frames, then planted lettuce seedlings and seeds.
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School Notes
Our School Program team has been busy this spring!
- School staff are conducting five locker clean outs, diverting good quality paper, binders, pencils and more to reuse, plus materials to recycling and compost that otherwise would have been landfilled.
- The team has facilitated a total of $14,370.31 in School Zero Waste Grants to nine schools, which used the funding for: reusable silverware, water bottles and bottle filling stations, reusable bowls, reusable plates and dishes, and recycling collection carts.
- A lot of hands on compost education took place this year, giving students opportunities to dig in the dirt, and see close up what their composting efforts create...
- ... and speaking of which, CVSWMD hosted a Salad Party at Union Elementary School last week, featuring the very plants the students had transplanted into the high school greenhouses this spring.
- School staff worked with students to complete waste audits at 10 schools.
- New Green Teams were created at U-32, Twinfield Union School, Hazen Union High School, and the Rumney School; Green Teams continued at Oxbow School, Montpelier High School, Main Street Middle School and Union Elementary School.
- The 3rd annual School Compost Poetry Contest was completed, with submissions from students in grades K - 12 from across the district.
Special kudos to School Program Manager Gwen Lyons and School Zero Waste Coordinator Amanda Garland, who spend their days doing all of this and much more. To learn more about our schools programs, click here.
 | | UES Students enjoy the lettuce they planted at the Montpelier High School green house earlier this year at the annual UES Salad Party held on Friday, June 7; students planted lettuce with School Program Manager Gwen Lyons as part of her composting education. |
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CVSWMD Notes
ARCC Has Diverted Over 32 Tons in the Past Year
We've been collecting data on our Additional Recyclables Collection Center and found that the number of visitors and the amount of material diverted out of the landfill far exceeded our projections. Here is a sample of what we found:
- Data collected from June 2012 - June 2013 indicate an average of 74 ARCC visitors per month diverting an average of 2.7 tons of waste per month. That's over 32 tons per year!
- Each month the ARCC welcomes about 40 new visitors, combined with repeat visitors.
- These numbers exceed our original predication of 62 visitors a month.
- In the past year the ARCC had 889 visitors
Particular congratulations go to our Acting Operations Manager, Carl Witke and Municipal Assistance Grant Coordinator, Chrissy Belmeyer who has been helping with ARCC projects for the past month.
Municipal Assistance Grants
CVSWMD applauds Orange, Middlesex and Calais - all recipients of our Municipal Assistance Grant, designed to help municipalities with waste reduction.
- The town of Orange received funding to hold a bulk trash day this summer, which will be open to residents to drop off large trash items such as furniture, carpets, building demolition materials and lumber.
- Middlesex is home to an illegal tire dump at an old auto garage, which holds an estimated 1,500 tires, a hazard on many levels. CVSWMD has awarded Middlesex funding to clean up this site and therefore help improve its community.
- The Town of Calais will be making improvements to the Town Recycling and Trash Depot. CVSWMD funding will help to erect fencing around the perimeter of the facility and add signage to inform residents of the hours of operation.
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Barre City was awarded $3,000 to hold a one-time only Yard Debris Drop Off in May. It came to the attention of city officials that several areas throughout the City were being used as illegal drop sites. This special event allowed City Officials to directly target and alleviate a problem related to solid waste.
Applications for this year's round of Municipal Assistance Grants are now closed, If you have any questions, email Chrissy Bellmyer.
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Did You Know? Recycling one glass bottle or jar saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours
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Legislative Update
H.262 - Paint Stewardship Legislation Signed!
The paint stewardship law requires that the paint industry is responsible for collecting and managing leftover architectural paint in Vermont, reducing the role of government and taxpayers. The cost of the program would be paid by manufacturers who sell paint in the state. This cost would be included in the price of the paint. The program would be administered by a paint stewardship organization.
Benefits of paint stewardship legislation in Vermont:
- Reduced government cost.
- Increase paint recycling by increasing the number of paint collections around the state
- Green sector jobs - Potential for expansion of paint recycling industry in Vermont.
- Less disposal, more recycling - More paint will be diverted from landfills and be reused and recycled, which helps the state reach its recycling goal (and fits right in with CVSWMD's goal of moving toward Zero Waste).
- Less waste - The industry will educate the public to buy the right amount of paint for a job and reduce waste.
Please Note: Paint Stewardship Collections start in the summer of 2014
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 | | Colleen Whitcomb: Zero Waste Outreach Intern |
We welcome Colleen Whitcomb, who started as our Zero Waste Outreach Intern in early June. Colleen is a University of Vermont student who hails from Maine, where she has interned and worked with ecomaine. Colleen also is very involved with UVM's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, where she has been an assistant teacher and steward.
Say hi to Colleen when you come to this year's Independence Day celebration in Montpelier on July 3! Colleen will be the Zero Waste Coordinator for this event. Welcome Colleen!
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Household Collections 2013 Schedule
Our 2013 season is underway! Here is the current schedule: Click here for more details.
- All Collections 9 am - 1 pm unless otherwise noted
- $15 per carload for district residents
- Businesses must preregister by calling 229-9383 x.106
May 3 (Fri.) Hazardous Waste/Rover in Calais/5 - 7 pm*
May 4 Hazardous Waste / Barre Town / Town Garage
June 20 (Thu) Hazardous Waste / Rover* in Fairlee / 5 - 7 pm*
June 21 (Fri) Hazardous Waste / Williamstown /Old Landfill
Aug. 24 Haz. Waste, E-waste, Books, Textiles / Hardwick / Town Garage
Sept. 7 Haz. Waste, E-waste, Books, Textiles/ Tunbridge / Transfer Station
Sept. 14 Hazardous Waste, E-waste, Books, Textiles/Bradford/Town Garage
Oct. 12 Hazardous Waste / Montpelier / Dept. of Labor Parking Lot
*Participants of this Collection must preregister by phone, and only material from households is permitted. There is a limited capacity for this collection, so please register as soon as you are able. |
Contact Us
Physical Address:
Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD)
137 Barre Street
Montpelier, VT 05602-3618
PH: 802.229.9383
FAX: 802.229.1318
General Questions or Comments?
Staff:
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CVSWMD Board Members by City/Town
Barre City - Nancy Wolfe
Barre City alternate - Steve Micheli
Barre Town - Fred Thumm
Barre Town alternate - Jack Mitchell
Berlin - Matt Levin
Bradford - Gerhard Postpischil
Calais - Bill Powell
Calais Alternate - John Brabant
Chelsea - Mark Lembke
Chelsea Alternate - Steve Gould
East Montpelier - Ginny Callan
Hardwick - Dan Hale
Middlesex - Anita Krauth
Montpelier - Mia Moore
Montpelier Alternate - Andy Hooper
Orange - Lee Cattaneo
Plainfield - Judith Dillon
Tunbridge - Vacant
Walden - Ellen Gershun
Washington - Vacant
Williamstown - Charles Sandlin
Woodbury - Dave Barnowski
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